The Little Pieces
by Ari Moriarty
Summary: A collection of companion pieces and one-shots relating to or taking place during the events of my story, "Piecekeeping."
1. Ave Maria

**Author's Note: **Another forty minute-freewrite. This takes place during the timeline of **Piecekeeping**, shortly after the end of the most recent chapter.

Wait, what? That's right! Finally , I'm beginning to prepare to update **Piecekeeping** again! Huzzah! I'm excited. I hope you are too.

Anyway, I apologize for somewhat strange tone of this piece. I was compiling mournful religious music for the Hamlet soundtrack while I wrote it, and so this is what came of that.

**Ave Maria**

Heaven was a peaceful place, a place where everything was still and quiet enough to listen to the echoes inside Nanako's soul of the shuddering and desperate feelings that she never let out into the light of day. It was a beautiful place, the sort of place you could feel safe and comfortable in, and although Nanako had avoided it ever since she'd first awakened to her persona more than a year ago, she now found herself walking through the halls of paradise and almost enjoying the Heaven that she'd created.

There was only one problem with this place, she thought, biting her lip as she padded down a corridor and turned a corner onto another majestically lit and flower-lined path. It felt so lonely here, so empty in the end, and Nanako knew that her mother would never have loved a place that was this lonely. Her mother had loved laughter and long walks with Nanako and her father when they'd all been together as a family. Loneliness was no place for her to rest.

"Mommy…" whispered Nanako, gazing up at the towering arches and domes that were somehow a part of the silent castle that stretched and loomed through the realms of Heaven.

Suddenly, a hand touched Nanako's shoulder. She wasn't frightened, or worried, or even surprised. There was no more fear in this place, only quiet and memories.

Turning around, Nanako found Ken Amada standing behind her, watching her with a curious sort of frown on his face.

"Nanako-chan?" he asked. "Why did you go off alone like that? Everyone's worried about you. I said I'd go look."

"I'm sorry," murmured Nanako. "I…I just wanted to see Mom."

Ken looked up into the sky, then around at the flowers and the strangely still scenery. "Oh," he murmured. "I see."

"I wanted to tell her that I'm sorry," Nanako went on, surprised by how relieved she was at finally having another person to talk to in this place. "I hurt Dad…I made him scared. When the shadow came, he…he was scared of me. I just wanted to keep him safe, but…" She sighed. "I don't know why he was so scared. I wanted to tell Mom that I didn't mean to. She's probably watching, right? So she would know what happened. I don't want her to be angry with me…or with Dad."

They walked on together for a few paces, neither of them saying anything, until Nanako stopped, turned around, and looked back at Ken.

"But she's not here," insisted Nanako, feeling frustrated tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"Because this place isn't real," Ken explained slowly. "You imagined this, Nanako. This isn't a real Heaven, it's just the way it looks in your mind."

"But if I imagine Mom," said Nanako, almost begging, "then shouldn't she be here too? I can make this place appear, so…I should be able to make Mom come, right?"

Ken just shook his head. "People aren't like that," he told her. "People are too much for us to imagine. There are, uh…lots of different sides to people. They feel so many different things. It's more than we can make up in our heads, so…we can't bring them here."

"Oh," murmured Nanako, not quite understanding.

"Um…Yu or Minako would probably explain it better," muttered Ken. "I'm not very-!"

"Ken-san?" interrupted Nanako. "What do you think Heaven looks like?"

The question seemed to take Ken aback for a moment. "I, uh…" he stammered, blinking at her in the brilliance of Heaven's light. "I think it's a happy place. There are no bad guys there, and everyone is always smiling, and…" He trailed of, looking embarrassed. "This sounds pretty childish, I-!"

Nanako was nodding as she listened. "And there are no nightmares, right?" she added, gazing into his face hopefully. "And no sadness?"

Ken didn't seem to have anything to say. He just nodded back at her, once. That was enough for Nanako.

"So," she continued, "then this can't be Heaven, because…there are shadows here, and in Heaven there wouldn't be any shadows. In Heaven there are only good things." Pausing, she thought for a moment, then asked, "Do you think there's a real Heaven somewhere?"

"I hope so," murmured Ken.

"And do you think," pushed Nanako, "that my Mom, and your Mom, and your Dad are all there together?"

For once, that seemed to break through to Ken, and a little, hesitant smile drifted across his face. "Of course," he told her.

Nanako smiled back. "And they're probably friends, right?"

Ken reached out and ruffled her hair. Nanako could see that there were tears in his eyes, too, although he dashed them away quickly with the back of his hand, and she knew enough about boys to pretend that she hadn't noticed.

"If your Mom is anything like you," he said quietly, "I think it'd be hard not to like her. So…yeah, they're friends."

"Then I think they're probably really happy," announced Nanako, squeezing Ken's hand as they started off again together through the streets. "Because you can't be happy if you're lonely, but if there are friends in Heaven, then I think it'll all be okay."


	2. Hero

**Author's Note: **Apologies for the sporadic and nonsensical update schedule: I JUST finished opening weekend of my show, and am finishing up a series of grueling sixty-page exams. By Thursday, all that will be over, and I will resume finishing things in a timely fashion. Please expect an alarming explosion of updates this coming weekend, as I bring multiple stories to a close, and post several chapters that have been sitting on my computer for weeks, unfinished and un-edited. Phew.

I intended to finish "Horatio" tonight, and will instead likely finish it after work tomorrow. I started writing the ending to that, but it ended up turning into this, instead, and I'm reasonably certain that I know why. Yesterday, my best friend announced to me that she will be deploying in October to a warzone that we read about frequently in the papers. I may have been unconsciously thinking about that when I created this.

This is a companion piece to **Messiah**, and falls within the timeline of that story.

Thank you for your patience, and I'm looking forward to getting back to regular and sensible updates soon.

**Hero **

A few days prior to leaving on her vacation to Iwatodai, Minako stopped into Daidara's store on her way to work.

"Welcome to Daidara's Gallery," began Junpei as Minako pushed open the door. "Home of the finest collection of hand=crafted…oh, hey, Mina-tan! Cool, I didn't think you'd come by today. What's up? You playing hookie from work?"

"No way," insisted Minako. "I just got an early start today."

Junpei grinned. "Yeah, I know, I know," he assured her. "You're too good for your own good, or something clever like that. Not that taking a day off now and then would be such a bad thing…"

Minako was about to remind him that she had, in fact, requested several days off just to take a trip with him during the upcoming week. She stopped when she heard the door open behind her, and a set of familiarly heavy and careless footsteps made their way past her towards the counter.

"Oh, hey Minako," said Yosuke. "Haven't seen you around in a few days."

"I've been busy with work," murmured Minako apologetically. "I know I've been hard to get a hold of, but I promise I'll come by Junes soon. I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's fine," Yosuke insisted. "I bet Dojima-san can be a real slave driver…hey, better you than me, that's all I'm saying."

"No shit," added Junpei. "You know, Dojima-san had her stuck at the desk until after midnight three nights in a row last week! I guess I should just get used to night driving, huh?"

Yosuke completely ignored him. "So," he asked, "I guess Daidara-san's not in yet? My Dad wanted me to ask him about an order we placed at Junes."

"Uh, nah, he's not here," began Junpei. "But, if you want, I'm sure that I can-!"

"Then I'll come back tomorrow to talk to him," interrupted Yosuke, cutting Junpei off mid-sentence. "Anyway, I'll see you around, Minako. Don't work too hard, okay?"

He turned around and walked quickly out of the store, leaving Minako standing there with her mouth hanging slightly open in surprise.

"Man," muttered Junpei with a sigh. "That just never gets any less awkward…"

Minako frowned. "So," she said, "then you two haven't gotten over what happened in the Velvet Room."

"Whatever," grunted Junpei. "I'm over it, and all. He's the one with the problem." Minako could hear the frustration in his voice, even if he was trying to play the whole thing off as nothing to worry about. "Still, I guess I don't really blame him. I mean, I don't know, I did kinda threaten to shoot his dead best friend's little sister, and…that's kind of a big deal. I'd be pissed. So…"

Minako bit her lip. When Junpei put it like that, it was relatively easy to imagine why Yosuke might be struggling to get over his grudge.

"Have you tried actually apologizing to him?" she asked, knowing the answer before she even finished formulating the question.

"What are you, my mom?" asked Junpei. "Or, uh, maybe not my mom…actually, right then, you sounded more like Mitsuru-senpai after hearing that I'd come back to the dorm with a bad exam grade, or something. No, I haven't 'apologized.' Not like it matters. You think he'd care one way or another if I felt bad about it, or if I was really sorry?"

Minako was ready to answer him. She started to say something about the benevolent effect of good intentions, or the fact that maybe Yosuke would be surprised to hear that Junpei really could understand how he felt. There were a hundred things that she could have said, and wanted to say, but Junpei's next words startled her into silence.

"And I'm not sorry," he muttered. "I got nothing to say to him. Yeah, it sucks that it happened like that, but…I got no regrets, okay? Okay, maybe that's not true, maybe it was hard on little Nanako-chan, but…anyway, I wouldn't take it back. If he's gonna stay mad, fine, if that's how it's gotta be. I can deal with it."

Minako wasn't sure quite what to make of that. All along, she realized, she'd continued to blithely assume Junpei's kidnapping of Nanako during their second attempt at sealing Nyx had been committed in a moment of terrified weakness, and that, having now come back to his senses, Junpei would be remorseful and repentant about the anguish that he had put the others through. It had never occurred to her that he wouldn't have taken it back, if he'd had the chance. Then again, she admitted to herself, she'd never taken the time to ask him.

"I'm surprised at you," she managed, after a moment, not bothering to try and clip the accusing, remonstrative edge off of her tone. "The Junpei I used to know was a good guy, a guy with morals, and…and with a conscience. He'd never have been able to hurt a little girl, or at least, not without hating himself for it afterwards. Where's that Junpei? I liked him. What happened to him?"

"A lot of things," mumbled Junpei.

Something about the way he said it startled Minako, and there were deeper and darker tones in his voice that belonged to the man Junpei had become, and not to the boy that he'd been back in high school.

He laughed, bitterly and self consciously. "I guess Junpei Iori, righteous savior of the universe is gone for good," he told her. "Maybe that's a bad thing, but…I guess I don't care. After we defeated Nyx, I started thinking about things, and figuring some stuff out."

"What stuff?" was all Minako managed to ask.

"Like…what my priorities are," continued Junpei. "I mean, we were these big deal heroes, and we were the only ones destined to save the world, right? It was a huge rush, even near the end when everything started to look and feel like crazy hell."

Minako remembered the way Junpei had rejected, at first, everything that Ryoji had tried to tell them about Nyx, and the end. She remembered how much it had hurt them both when he'd shouted at her that day, accusing her of being the reason that everything had started to unravel because she'd been the one carrying all of that inside her for so long. What Junpei now referred to as playing "savior of the universe" had taken as much a toll on him as it had on everyone else, and even then his gung-ho, determined confidence in them had pushed her forward to do the right thing and to believe that she and everyone else in SEES could make the difference that would change and save their lives and the lives of the people they loved. Every time she'd had to make another horrible, terrifying decision that put them all in danger, Junpei had been right there with her, egging her on. She'd known she could take on the world, with him at her side, so…what was this, all of a sudden? What was he talking about, when he brought up "new priorities?"

"I don't understand," she said blankly. "What are you-?"

"You wouldn't," muttered Junpei. "It'd be hard, because…well, you weren't there. We did it, in the end. We totally saved the whole goddamn world. Me, Junpei Iori, I saved the world. Hell, it was awesome, it was amazing, and then…"

He was quiet for a moment, and Minako found tears unexpectedly welling up in her eyes, although at the moment she wasn't sure why.

"When the dust cleared," murmured Junpei, "and it was all over, and we were the fucking heroes of the hour…you were gone. I guess then, it didn't matter anymore. What the hell good is the world if you lose the things you wanted to live for, right? To everybody else, you were the hero, the girl who sacrificed herself for everybody else to keep on living. For me, though…you were just my best friend, and here I was in this big stupid world that I'd thought I cared so much about protecting, wondering what the hell I was supposed to care about now. It's funny, I guess, but the world doesn't mean much without you in it. Who the hell cares if I'm the good guy? I don't want to do the right thing. I don't want to be a hero. I don't want to be alone."

"Junpei," whispered Minako, unsure what else there was to say. Somehow, words weren't going to be enough, no matter how carefully she chose them.

"Yeah, I know," he said. "So I'm not the guy you thought I was. I'm not the guy I thought I was, either, but…like I said, I can live with that."

Minako reached out for him, and her fingers bumped against the counter as she groped around, trying to find him through the sightless haze. She wanted to explain to him that it hadn't been a choice, that the world would have ended without her sacrifice, and that the end of the world would have meant the end of them both. She couldn't imagine what it would have been like to let him suffer, to let her friends suffer, to give up and watch the world crumble around her just so that she wouldn't have had to face the end for her alone. She was proud of what she'd done, and she was glad that she'd been able to give something to the people who'd made her world worth living in, even if that meant that she'd lost the chance at a future. There hadn't been another way.

"I'm sorry," she told him.

"Nah," murmured Junpei. "You're not. It's okay, forget it."


	3. When I'm Sixty Four

Author's Note:Another angsty one-shot, this time in honor it being March 5! Thanks to DimensionSlip for the inspiration. You should, by the way, go check outDimensionSlip'S stories immediately, by the way. They are wonderfully written and brilliant. Seriously, why are you still reading this? You should be reading those stories instead.

If we're looking at the timeline of my persona series, this story falls sometime after the end of Messiah and Piecekeeipng, so I guess you're getting a rare glimpse into the future… *cue creepy sci-fi music!*There are, of course, no major spoilers, except that now you know that Junpei and Minako don't' die at the end of that story, cause they're in this one. Whoops!

I hope you enjoy it!

When I'm Sixty Four

_Junpei was panting and wheezing by the time he finally got all the way up to the roof of Gekkoukan High School. He could already see the other members of SEES, all standing with their backs to him, still as statues, focused on something on the ground, something that Junpei couldn't see._

_No._

_Mitsuru-senpai was there, with Fuuka and Yukari. Was Yukari crying? And what was with that horrible, anguished look on Aigis' face? Ken and Akihiko were there too, and…wait, was that Shinjiro-san, kneeling on the ground, holding something in his arms? What was he…?_

_No._

_The realization hit Junpei like a bag of horrible half-ton bricks. He started running faster, tripping over his feet in his haste to get to the top of the stairs, even though he already knew that it didn't matter, that he'd lost his chance, that there was nothing left for him to do, and that it was all over._

_It was too late._

_She was already gone._

_Without ever knowing it, without being able to remember it, he'd managed to fail her._

Something between a moan and a shout ripped out of Junpei's throat as he fell out of bed with a thud. It was pitch black outside, and it took him a few bleary moments of rubbing his eyes and getting his bearings before he realized that it was still the middle of the night, and that he'd been having that dream again.

The dream never made sense, of course. Every time he woke up from it, he realized that it had been a little different than it had been the time before. Nothing had really happened the way he always pictured it in the dream. Who had it been, holding Minako in his arms? Not Shinjiro, right? Honestly, Junpei had woken up from that dream so many times now that he couldn't remember the way the events had really played out anymore. The only thing he did know for sure, the thing that he'd never be able to forget was that, as he'd been climbing those stairs, he hadn't realized what was going on. There had been no moment of accepting that it was too late, no sense of awful foreboding. He'd just gotten there, halfway through some stupid sentence about how he was getting old and his memory was going bad, and then he'd found her lying on the ground. She'd been awake, still, when he found her. She'd been awake just long enough for him to watch the life flicker out in her eyes like the little spark of flame right before the match burns out forever. It was nothing that he would ever be able to forget.

Pulling on a pair of pants and clearing his throat to get rid of the emotional gunk that was clogging him up, Junpei walked over to the wall calendar and took a look. Sure enough, it was March 5. No wonder he was having nightmares.

Outside the window, he could see that it was, unexpectedly, snowing just a little, or maybe it was really only sleet. Either way, it would be cold out, and dangerous walking home. Maybe, he thought, it wouldn't be a terrible idea to call and see if Minako was still at work. After all, she had been working late nights for Dojima-san over the past week or two.

Picking up his phone, he dialed her number. For some reason, when she picked up, he started breathing again. He hadn't even realized that he was holding his breath.

Twenty minutes later, at the Inaba police station…

"Mina-tan?" Junpei called, as he walked in through the front door. There didn't seem to be anyone else working this late, and Junpei made a mental note to tell Minako to start locking the front door, or something, when she was working here all alone at night.

He could see her sitting at Dojima-san's desk, writing something down on a piece of paper. As Junpei watched, she frowned, got frustrated, then crumpled the sheet up and tossed it towards the nearby trashcan, missing by at a foot. Junpei walked over, picked up the paper, and stuck it into the trash.

""Hey," he said. "You ready to go?"

Minako sighed. "I guess so," she muttered.

"What are you even doing here this late?" Junpei asked. He wasn't entirely sure what Minako actually did at the station, other than whatever Dojima-san expected her to do, whenever he needed it. There didn't seem to be any reason for her to be here with no one else around, especially when the case Dojima-san had been working on had already cracked wide open.

"Oh," replied Minako tiredly, "I'm working on my handwriting. Trying to figure out if I can train myself to write legible notes and memos…it's been so long since I've written anything, my handwriting's gotten terrible. It's embarrassing."

"Uh," said Junpei. "Really? That's…couldn't you do that at home? You're all alone here. It's…kinda weird."

Minako shrugged. "I'm alone here, but I'd be alone there, too. Doesn't really make a difference to me. I'd rather just finish what I'm doing before I turn in for the day. Not that I seem to be making any progress."

She held up what was, apparently, a previous attempt at handwriting practice. Junpei could sort of, if he really squinted and tried, make out the word "the" amongst the tangle of garbled chicken scratch writing, but several of the letters were totally unrecognizable.

"Better luck next time?" he suggested helpfully.

Minako laughed a frustrated little laugh. "Yeah," she agreed. "Let's hope so."

As they rode back towards home together in the car, Junpei took a deep breath. "Hey," he asked casually, "do you, uh, remember what day it is?"

"Today?" Minako frowned in thought. "I'm pretty sure it's Tuesday."

"Nah," said Junpei, shaking his head. "I mean, yeah, you're right, it's Tuesday, but…that's not what I meant. I mean, do you know what day of the year it is?"

That took a few more moments of quiet thought. "Oh," said Minako finally.

"Yeah," agreed Junpei gloomily. "Exactly."

"Junpei," Minako began, but he shook his head, cutting her off.

"Look," he said. "Okay, I'm not really a speech-making kind of a guy, but…I know that a lot's been going on lately, and that you're tired, and…shit's been getting really hard. You can't see, you got dumped, your boss shouts at you, and…look, I want you to get something, and get it right, okay? No matter how bad it gets, or how much shit hits the fan, or whatever...life sucks, sometimes, okay? You should get used to it. Just…just get used to real life, and getting over things, because…because you're gonna have to put up with it for a really long time. You're gonna live for a really long time, and I am not gonna ever let anything fucking happen to you ever again."

"Hey," murmured Minako.

Junpei, however, wasn't finished. "You're gonna get really old, like…like old people," he insisted. "Seriously fucking old. That's gonna suck, too. Old people get sick, and stuff stops working, and…it doesn't matter, because you can count on your pal Junpei to make sure that you get so old you can't even sit up straight in a chair anymore and…" Stopping, he frowned, and shook his head. "What I'm trying to say is," he tried again, "you don't have to worry about anything, because I.-!"

He felt Minako wrap her hand around his, and give it a comforting squeeze. "I know what you're trying to say," she told him. "Thank you, Junpei. And you're right, you know?"

"Huh?" asked Junpei. "Uh, of course I am. Wait, about what?"

Even though he couldn't see her face, Junpei could hear that Minako was smiling when she told him, "You're right, there's nothing to be worried about. I'm not going anywhere."

Junpei tried to relax a little. In the back of his mind, he could still see the image from his dream, of Minako's dead face, staring sightlessly up into the March sky, getting colder and farther away with every passing moment.

"Junpei?" asked Minako. "I mean it. I promise you. Everything's going to be all right."

Junpei realized that something was wrong with this conversation. After all, hadn't he come all the way out here to tell her that? So why was she now the one reassuring him?

"Yeah," he mumbled, driving with one hand to let her keep holding on to the other. "Yeah, of course it is."


End file.
